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Ga. GOP caps convention with new leader

AUGUSTA -- Georgia Republicans left their annual convention Saturday with a better feel for the field of GOP presidential hopefuls and a new chairman to lead the party into the 2000 elections.

''The message I'd like to take out of here is unity and commitment to focus this party on issues that win elections,'' said former state Sen. Chuck Clay of Marietta moments after being elected chairman. ''We are a diverse group ... but I'd like to think we as a party have grown up to realize the goal of a political party is winning.''

Clay's election culminated a long day in which the nearly 1,800 delegates gathered at the Augusta-Richmond County Civic Center also heard from magazine publisher Steve Forbes and radio talk-show host Alan Keyes. Ex-Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander and conservative activist Gary Bauer addressed the two-day convention on Friday, while Red Cross President Elizabeth Dole was forced to cancel a planned speech because of laryngitis.

Like Alexander and Bauer the day before, Forbes and Keyes took the Clinton administration and congressional Democrats to task Saturday for pushing stricter gun control laws in the wake of Thursday's shootings of six students at Heritage High School in Conyers and last month's killings of 12 students and a teacher at a high school in Colorado.

The Forbes campaign billed his speech as a major address on education reform. He called for stronger discipline in America's schools, funding to give parents a greater choice of schools for their children and a back-to-basics instructional approach that would include religion.

In the criminal justice arena, Forbes criticized the Justice Department for failing to enforce existing gun laws and urged school officials to use more vigilance against students who threaten teachers or classmates on the Internet.

Forbes said the federal government could help parents spend more time with their children by lowering taxes. He received his biggest round of applause when he suggested getting rid of -- not just reforming -- the tax code.

''Take this monster and kill it!'' he said. ''Drive a stake through its heart, bury it and hope it never rises again.''

In a short-but-fiery speech, Keyes challenged the delegates to go out and work for the reforms they applauded so enthusiastically for two days. He portrayed himself as a conservative alternative to more moderate Republicans who have embraced Democratic positions on the environment, the constitutional right to bear arms and U.S. intervention in Kosovo.

''I'm not going to follow George W. Bush, with his belief in global warming, or Liddy Dole in an assault on 2nd Amendment rights, or (U.S. Sen.) John McCain in supporting a murderous policy on Yugoslavia that has no relation to the interests of this country,'' Keyes said.

The convention was interrupted for several minutes when Angel Rocker of Navarre Beach, Fla., an educator and small businesswoman running a little publicized campaign for the Republican nomination, came to the podium to protest not being included among the invited speakers.

''This is not what the Grand Old Party is about,'' said Rocker, who described herself as the first African-American woman to run for the GOP nod. ''We are not going to be able to get into the White House unless we reach out to more African-Americans and Hispanics.''

The delegates were divided over Rocker's presence.

''Let her speak!'' yelled one woman.

''Get her out of there!'' another delegate hollered.

Party Chairman Rusty Paul allowed Rocker to speak briefly before regaining the microphone. She then tried to use a bullhorn but wasn't loud enough to be heard. Finally, she was escorted off the stage peacefully.

Word of a second planned protest turned out to be unfounded. A children's advocacy group had been expected to gather outside the arena to object to the appearance of a National Rifle Association official at the convention two days after the shootings in Conyers.

But NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre's speech went off without a hitch. He joined the presidential candidates who came to Augusta in condemning Democrats for using the recent school shootings to promote the cause of gun control.

''Everybody knows what the real agenda was, and it sure wasn't keeping children safe,'' LaPierre said. ''What you saw was people who hate the 2nd Amendment trying to take it apart brick by brick.''

Clay was declared the winner of the chairman's race by acclamation after he outpolled Linda Herren, first vice chairwoman of the state party, and Fulton County Republican Chairman Ron Jackson. Paul decided not to run for another term after serving four years.